DEIVATHIN KURAL # 123 (Vol # 6) Dated 02 Feb 2013

DEIVATHIN KURAL # 123 (Vol # 6) Dated 02 Feb 2013

(These e-mails are translations of talks given by PeriyavaaL of Kanchi Kaamakoti Peetam, over a period of some 60 years while he was the pontiff in the earlier part of the last century. These have been published by Vanadi Padippagam, Chennai, in seven volumes of a thousand pages each as Deivathin Kural. Today we are going ahead from the last paragraph on page No 841 of Volume 6 of the Tamil original. The readers may note that herein ‘man/he’ includes ‘woman/she’ too mostly. These e-mails are all available at   http://Advaitham.blogspot.com updated consonantly)

404.  All the sweet confectioneries are made of sugar which is made from the juice of Karumbu and the bow of Kãma / Manmata is made of that material, a sweet bow made of sugar cane.  Though the sloka says that it is made of flowers, we are so used to the idea in our minds that Kãma and Kãmeswari have this bow made of sugar cane.  In some ways, it is also correct to say so.  Sweetness as a taste is very close to this feeling of affection and love.  The opposite sense is anger and antipathy.  If someone is angry and is going to fight, it would have been more appropriate had he taken a red-pepper as a weapon and not sugar-cane as a bow!

405.  All the world over sugar-cane is very sweet.  Then in the whole world the flower is the softest. A tree can be hard and its bark may be rather ruff.  Some of them may also be having thorns.  Though the new leaves may be soft and tender, the slightly older leaves may be rough and prickly.  Then the fruit whether small and raw or big and ripe, may be soft and nice for the touch.  But undoubtedly it is the flower that is soft and nice to the touch, colourful to look at and so pleasing for the eyes, and invitingly fragrant and so appealing to the sense of smell and very ennobling for the mind!  However much a man may be rough and tough, with the slightest dust or smoke, his eyes will be badly affected, isn't it?  Like that the banyan tree may be so strong and mighty with a huge body of roots becoming trunks; but its flower will still be so soft and tender!  From such flowers, if Manmata is having five varieties as his arrows, does it not sound rather peculiar?

406.  Why five is the number of arrows decided arbitrarily?  The five is the number of arrows as each one is aimed at, attracting one particular sense organ of ours.  The flowers of Lotus, Asoka, Mango, Jasmine and the Blue Lily used to be matched with one particular sensory organ in the body and botany says that the flowers are the genitals for the plants and that the honey bee and the beetle do the important job of cross pollination, which is responsible with continued proliferation of the species!  AmbãL also has the same five arrows which are related to the five senses and what is enjoyed by those sensors –as given in Lalitha Sahasranãma – 'pancha tanmãtra sãyaka' – 'पञ्च तन्मात्र सायका'.  They are five subtle senses experienced by the sensory organs, namely – 'सब्दं' 'sabdam' – 'स्पर्शं' 'sparsam' – 'रूपं' 'roopam' – 'रसं' 'rasam' – 'गन्दं' 'gandam', which stand for the sense of – sound – touch – form – taste – and smell respectively!

407.  If the arrows are indicative of and aimed at the five senses, what is the bow indicative of, on which these missiles are based and launched?  That bow is indicative of the mind on which the five senses are based, as Lalitha Sahasranãma says, 'मनो रूपेक्षु कोदण्डा', to be read as, 'mano roopekshu kodanda'; meaning that 'she is having a bow which is as though her mind has taken a form'!  Then only the earlier quote of 'पञ्च तन्मात्र सायका' occurs.  Not only that each flower is indicative of a particular sense organ or its subtle sense perception known as 'tanmãtra', in each flower all the five 'tanmãtras' are connected or related!  If there is flower, there will be the bee!  Flower cannot make sound, which is the only one missing amongst the five 'tanmãtras'.  So the bee makes-up for that lack or deficiency, I think.  For touch it is soft, for form it is colourfully beautiful, it provides the tasty honey and nice fragrance; which means that the sense of sound is the only thing missing and that is made up by the bees!  Instead of people going in to battle with sounds of rampant cacophony of 'Kill and Murder', this gentleman is going into battle with the buzzing bees making up the cord of his bow!

408.  Thus the bow, its cord, arrows and everything seems to be good for nothing, when it comes to fighting a battle as the sloka says, "धनु: पोउष्पं मोउर्वी मधुकरमयी पञ्च विशिखा:" (Trace back for transliteration.)  Sometimes the king may be a weakling but, his Army Commander may be rough and tough, whose power and ability may the cause of this king getting away with the winners name and fame!  But here too there is only cause for disappointment as his 'sãmanta:' is 'vasanta:'!  Manmata's sãmanta, his assistant is this 'vasanta' that is, the Spring Season!  If that season were to take a form as a person, he is said to be an assistant of the God of Love, Cupid this Manmata!  The harsh winter is over and it is not yet the hot summer!  Not cold and not hot, but just invigoratingly pleasant, known as the 'இளவேனில் காலம்' in Tamil.  The trees that had shed their leaves in the fall and remained bare in winter would be suddenly full of green leaves and give shadow and there will be all sorts of flowers in a riot of colours!  This season is itself known as 'pushpa samayam' or the 'Time of Flowers'!  It is a season of feast for the eyes and nose and this gentleman Vasantam is the Partner in Crime for this Manmata!

409.  Then when you look at the chariot on which Manmata is going to ride, you cannot help bursting out laughing!  It is the, 'malaya marud ãyodhana ratha:' – 'मलय मरुद् आयोधन रथ:' – 'ratha:' means the chariot and ' ãyodhana ' means for battle; the 'malay marud' is the pleasant breeze flowing from the 'maruda malai' hills with the fragrance of sandal wood trees!  Instead of using destructive missiles and poison gas this fighter is spreading the breeze of sandal wood fragrance.  It is also not a gale of a wind but the light breeze of 'manda maruda'.   Then if at least the bow and arrows were visible, his accomplice and his chariot are invisible, as one is only a season of the year and the other is movement of air in space that too is 'mandam' and not a gale of a wind!  You have to presume the arrival of Manmata's partner, the season of spring by the greening of the countryside and the fragrance of the flowers.  His chariot is of course unlike the monsters of the modern wars known as Tanks, this breeze from the mountains is lightly brushing against you!

410.  More than anything else, this soldier himself is the most surprising oddity of all!  This Manmata is 'Ananga'.  He has many names such as Madana, Mãran, Kandarpan, and Kãma and many more.  Still the poet has specifically opted for the name 'Ananga' here in this sloka, meaning 'an (or un) + anga = Ananga' which means without body parts.  After Parameswara had burnt him off, though AmbãL gave him back his life, she did not give back the body.  As he was brought back to life to compensate for his wife's irreparable loss and agony, AmbãL sanctioned that he may be visible only to his wife!   He was retained as a force in being like air, light and sound without form.  Normally a soldier will be having strong limbs like that of a boxer or wrestler and his moustaches will be well oiled extending to the ears like iron rods.  Looking at him we will feel afraid.  Here this soldier is not just bit weak or something but, is just not seen as he is invisible!  Like this Vasantan his partner also does not have a form and his presence can only be guessed.  Similarly his chariot of Malaya Mãruda can be guessed by the sense of touch on our bodies.  But this main character is not only not visible, but also not easily discernible or guessed by any of the senses.  His effect is so subtle that before we know anything, we are under his influence and even after that we do not realise that fact!  How surprising that one without a body and using soft and powerless tools is able to win mastery over the whole world!

411.  At the time of Tripura Samhãra, for Parameswara, the huge and massive Meru Mountain was his bow, the snake Vãsuki was the string in the bow, verily Maha Vishnu himself was the arrow, the Sun and moon were the two wheels of the chariot, earth was the platform on the chariot and Brhma himself was the charioteer.  Though there was such a powerful confluence of mighty powers, Parameswara did not make use of them at all.  He did not lift even his finger let alone move his limbs.  He simply laughed thinking, "When I have Para Shakti as my inner self, do I need all this assemblage as my help?"  At once the Tripura Asuras were burnt to ashes!  Despite having powerful tools, he won without using them!  Here Manmata wins over the whole world with apparently flimsy weapons, unseen partner and formless chariot.  In both the cases, AmbãL is the common factor.  There by being the indwelling power she makes Parameswara successful.  Here by a light glance of anugraha, she makes this Ananga victorious world over!

412.  Making use of flimsy weapons and tools, invisible chariot and equally unseen partner, this body less Ananga, despite all that – 'tatãpi' – 'तथा अपि एक:' – single handed, this one man army of Kãman, though he has a namesake partner, without soldiers, horses or elephants; having only 'कामपि कृपां' just a little trace element of your Anugraha of ते' = yours, 'अपान्गात' = glance of Grace,'लब्द्वा' = having obtained, 'जगद इदं' = all this world over, 'सर्वं विजयते' = wins them all completely.  Thus to give Anugraha to the created beings is part of the Mãyã Kãryam.  Tripura Samhãra on the other hand is a total negation of everything transitory and non-absolute such as space and time as well as (sthula स्थूल, sookshma सूक्ष्म, kãraNa कारण, sareerã शरीरा) which are gross, subtle and causal bodies respectively; that happens in world of non-creation!  If that was the effectiveness of the total power of AmbãL; this job of Ananga is by an infinitesimal ray of glance of her powers.  The destroyer of Tripura, Parama Siva could also scorch this Kãman because, in him was the complete influence of her powers while in Kãman it was only a trace of that power.

413.  While talking about the victory of Kãman all over the world, and that she caused his this victory; we should not be leaving at that.  We should also be winning over him; and remember that for that also AmbãL has given the power to Parameswara as the indwelling Shakti.  What we need is that power to erase Kãman from our minds.  The poet has talked about the creative power to point out that it is the Power that can create that can erase also!  He has been given these flimsy tools despite which he is victorious; so that he may not become conceited and retain humility. 

414.  That Ananga was once endowed with the most beautiful body.  Till day we use a phrase 'as beautiful as Manmata', because of the fact that he had such a fetchingly beautiful body then.  He then had such a conceit.  At that time the Devas were suffering in the hands of Surapadma, who had a boon that only Siva's son could kill him.  Then Parameswara was in the form of DakshiNa Murthy as a Tapasvi.  At that time AmbãL had taken birth as the daughter of Himalayas, known as Parvata Raja Kumari alias Pãrvati.  In this sloka that she is being referred as 'himagirisute' – 'हिमगिरिसुते', is absolutely appropriate and in the rightness of things!   

(To be continued.)

Sambhomahadeva